The CEO Evolution™
by
Dr. Jennifer Whitaker
Author of
“The Brilliant Leader Model™--for the Executive Evolution””
and “The Executive Brilliance Trilogy”
PUBLISHED BY:
Executive Brilliance on Smashwords
The CEO Evolution™
Copyright © 2011 by Dr. Jennifer Whitaker
All rights reserved. No part of this book, concept, or model may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without written permission from the author, except for the inclusion of brief quotations in a review.
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Copyright © 2011 Dr. Jennifer Whitaker and Smashwords, Inc. All rights reserved.
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Table of Contents
The Inspiration Quotient
Profit, Inspiration, and the Future
We Don’t Know What We Don’t Know
Sight or Vision
What Highly Evolved Leaders Know
Inspired Leadership in Sports
How to Inspire Self
Self-Mastery Reflection Tool, Level One: Executive Brilliance for Yourself
How to Inspire Others
Self-Mastery Reflection Tool, Level Two: Executive Brilliance with Others
Born to Lead
Inspired Leaders—The Inside Scoop
Become a Blessing
Interview Background
Mentors and Mirrors
Success Cameos
What We Don’t Want
Decisive Moments
Twins
Hundreds of Angels
Home is not a Street Address
Success Cameos
Mother as Mentor
Family Messages
Courage through Challenge
It’s Not about the Money
Success Cameos
Childhood Lessons on Money
Poverty and Loss as Teachers
Compassion as Motivator
Soul Loves a Cause
Success Cameos
A Legacy of Kindness
Touching Individual Lives
Leaving More Green Space
Failure isn’t Fatal
Success Cameos
Nice Nasty
Lessons for the President
Marriage Failure, Life Success
Go For It!
Success Cameos
Laptop at Wedding
A Dispenser of Hope
Golden Rule and Gratitude
Lucky Stars and Blessings
Success Cameos
The Good Guy
Not a Vanilla Guy
Thirty-year Marriage Blessing
Managing Vast Complexities
A Self-Help Buffet for Digital Overwhelm
Just Start!
Inspirational Leader Questionnaire
Tell Us Who You Are
Order E-Books and Reprints
About the Author
Copyright Notice
"You were born with potential.
You were born with goodness and trust.
You were born with ideals and dreams.
You were born with greatness.
You were born with wings.
You are not meant for crawling, so don't!
You have wings, learn to use them and fly!"
Rumi
The Inspiration Quotient
“Your time is limited, so don't waste it living someone else's life. Don't be trapped by dogma - which is living with the results of other people's thinking. Don't let the noise of other’s opinions drown out your own inner voice. And most important, have the courage to follow your heart and intuition. They somehow already know what you truly want to become. Everything else is secondary.”
Steve Jobs
Some people love to watch celebrities. I study CEOs and am fascinated by executive behaviors of choice. What makes one CEO devise a massive scheme against future earnings, while another is inspired to provide scholarships to employees? What makes one CEO cut pensions and pad his or her own pocket, while another is forgoing a huge annual bonus so that employees will reap substantial rewards? These contrasting behaviors are based on deeply held values and orientations.
In my work, I am always thrilled when I see a top executive become more approachable and, in turn, realize much better results, not only in business but also in life. With each of my clients being so unique, I always seek to discover the formula for inspired leadership. In my interviews with numerous CEOs, which are the foundation of this book, I looked for common backgrounds, indicators, and themes. Working closely with CEOs and executives to find answers that will help them and others, I see their willingness to grow beyond their comfort zone to forge the interrelationship of self development with leadership development.
In my work, I continually ask: What shapes individuals for success? I believe it is the capacity for inspiration, a person’s “Inspiration Quotient.” As a leadership quality, the power of inspiration as an emotional engine is a rare and fascinating professional characteristic. The dictionary definition of inspiration is “an inspiring or animating action or influence.” Deepak Chopra calls it “a state of being in which the head and the heart are connected.” My definition of inspiration is the ability to access the power of spirit within yourself to provide you with an invisible strength and a higher intelligence that produce profound results.
As the Information Age morphs into the Inspiration Age and beyond, we live in a paradoxical time of having to trust that something life-affirming will emerge from the massive social, government, and corporate chaos surrounding us. The attributes of trust and surrender are antithetical to, yet integral with, what is happening in our business world where time-honored structures are falling down and once-respected institutions yield catastrophe. Massive social breakdown requires transformational trailblazers to cut a new path. In the hands of inspired leaders, this chaos can and will make new opportunities. But first, we have to become inspired and share this generously with others. Oftentimes in life and relationships, a breakdown occurs before a major breakthrough. I believe this is happening today in society and business at all levels locally and globally—individually and collectively.
This book and my life’s work are all about connecting you to those qualities and inner resources that propel you to be the best version of yourself and a triumphant inspiration to others. Interviewing numerous executive leaders, I was thrilled to discover their relationship to inspiration, that inexhaustible creative power that transforms their lives and allows them to be catalysts of transformation in the lives of those they know, love, and serve. What are their secrets? What do they know that others don’t know? Can they reveal an “Inspiration Code” that everyone can access? Their answers will help you
discover how to increase your “Inspiration Quotient” and understand what the intangible quality actually looks like and sounds like in the executive leadership world. Learn and practice the featured self-mastery tools to emulate those behaviors that highly-evolved leaders have already mastered and that every leader will need to navigate the future and its vast complexities.
Profit, Inspiration, and the Future
“We
have to choose between a global market driven only by calculations of
short-term profit, and one which has a human face.”
Kofi
Annan
Traditionally, CEOs focus primarily on growth and profit, and understandably so. This book offers an inside look at uniquely inspired leaders who live by their values to achieve growth and profit in their own unique way. As Robert Frost’s poem, “The Road Less Traveled,” so beautifully depicts, we live a life of difficult choices. In all of our decisions, in life and business, there is always a consequence of choosing which fork in the road to take:
“Two roads diverged in a wood, and I--
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference.”
Typically companies put profits first and human beings far behind. However, “The CEO Evolution™” encourages you to take “the road less traveled” and challenge those priorities. As a movement, this leadership evolution places humanity first, as do many inspired leaders featured throughout this book. More than extending goodwill, more than investing in human capital, more than championing a good employee, inspired CEOs lead from a heartfelt concern for humanity, and that in itself enhances profitability, corporate culture, and ultimately, legacy.
In the post-ENRON era, we are all searching for new pathways to inspirational leadership. Research and cocktail conversation confirm that “cynicism is at an all-time high and trust at an all time low.” Our cynicism applies to the shared perception of today’s CEO, many of whom have rightfully earned reputations for greed, power, dishonesty, and aggression. But my work has brought me into contact with a very different kind of CEO, exquisite leaders, inspired men and women who have a mission far greater than their role.
These unsung CEOs of character are the basis of my study, for it appears, after years of contemplation, they bring their souls to work. The leaders I’ve interviewed in depth demonstrate that the evolved executive’s mission is not only about growth and profit. Their “meta-mission” is that of eliciting the best in others by inspiring and empowering them, and when needed, visioning for their highest good. For example, no one can listen to Coach Bill Curry’s explanation of “the greatness of spirit within” and remain unstirred. Coach Curry’s words go right to the soul as he wields the truth he has earned and lived for himself. Like the highly evolved leader he is, Curry shares the power. He reminds others that they too have the greatness of spirit within them. He provides a powerful mirror to his world of players, clients, family and friends.
More than ever before, CEOs are caring about the greater good as well as the way they are perceived by others. To fairly describe today’s business leadership, it’s not all “ENRON, BP, Exxon” and the greedy profiteers, but to the contrary. I am very pleased to work with a number of inspired CEOs and executives who live and lead from the “inside out.” These leaders are proof that inspirational leadership actually works better in today’s market, as it will most certainly in future markets. These executives have either consciously or intuitively embraced the Brilliant Leader Model™ principles of practicing self-care, caring for others, being authentic, scheduling personal reflection time, and embodying their values on a daily basis. They are well-integrated individuals who understand the difference between their soulful “essence” and their social “persona.” They have summoned the courage to “bring their hearts to work” and it works for them, their team, and ultimately, their shareholders.
There are practical, business reasons to embrace the path of inspired leadership as the future speeds towards us.
We Don’t Know What We Don’t Know
“Every generation has the obligation to free men’s minds for a look at new worlds…to look from a higher plateau than the last generation.”
Ellison Onizuka, Astronaut--Challenger
How does one navigate the treacherous crossing from the Information Age to the Inspiration Age? How can you know for sure if your leadership is “sea-worthy” enough to withstand the tremendous sea change now transforming business in ways we can only begin to imagine. With exponentially faster technology and a generation concerned with a moral imperative for higher consciousness in business, the inevitable transformation is already influencing leadership and accountability. We are all striving to see past the horizon and peer into the future to anticipate vast complexities before they arise. One thing is for certain, the very fabric of time is changing. Leaders must understand the scope of changes and adapt to meet them.
If the Information Age has taught us anything, it’s that there are no secrets. If a leader builds a “house of cards,” it will only fall faster. Today, a leader’s activity is viewable and ‘Google-able’ 24/7, leaving a communication trail decades long. The preventive maintenance solution is really simple. Be honest. Be careful. Living to real values is safe and exciting. Succeeding with honesty is fulfilling. It’s not a time for leadership to become more secretive but a time to be more open, more revealing, more authentic, more exacting, and more decisive.
The emerging paradigm shift requires a new leadership model to handle increasing complexities with greater inspiration and emotional endurance. In the past, traditional leaders were authoritarians who simply dictated roles and objectives; whereas inspired leaders contain authority, exude presence, and practice gratitude and humility. Through awareness and caring, they invite others to step into their own brilliance; they naturally elicit the wisdom of others, by simply using the power of their presence. They believe in and trust others to be brilliant, knowing that people “perform up” to the expectations of a great leader.
Are you prepared to navigate the unknown and manage vast complexities that will arise? While it’s impossible to see past the horizon of what we know, the corporate paradigm shift is loosely envisioned as follows. Here’s a look at the elements of business, leadership, and work as the Information Age becomes the Inspiration Age.
Business Atmosphere: Predictable becomes Unpredictable
Business Problems: Resolvable becomes Irresolvable and Fluid
Leadership Structure: Authoritarian/Silo becomes Participatory/Matrix
Leadership Tone: Arrogance becomes Humility
Leadership Attitude: Rigid and Rejecting becomes Open and Accepting
Leadership Motive: Profit and Control become Profit and Inspiration
Leadership Focus: What is becomes What can be
Governing Consciousness: Greed becomes Concern for healthy profit, happy people, helping world
Regard for employees: Distrust becomes Trust
Roles and Boundaries: Rigid becomes Overlapping
Organization Chart: Hierarchical becomes Circular
Employee Location: Centralized becomes Dispersed
Premium Pay for: Consistency and lower-level problem solving becomes Loyalty and higher-level problem solving
Direction: Known/Linear becomes In Process/Circular
Problem Solver: Head becomes Head and Heart
Dominant function: Thinking becomes Thinking and Feeling
Method: Logic/Numbers become Creativity/Imagination
Dimension: Social becomes Socio-Spiritual
Reality: Meets expectation becomes Sees and quickly achieves spin-off possibilities
Working to: The Plan becomes Meeting Reality as is
Work Attitude: Secrecy becomes Open
Work Environment: Traditional becomes Transformational
As a message of hope, I encourage readers to yield their CEO cynicism and
participate in creating a future that is life-affirming, profitable, enjoyable, trusting, and peaceful. Part of self-mastery is the ability to use eyesight and vision at the same time, to be in the present yet sense the future with accuracy.
Sight or Vision
“Capital isn't scarce; vision is.”
Considered a renegade in the late 40’s and even today, Hewlett-Packard’s David Packard, an executive of character and common sense, systematically rejected the executive clique. He is fondly remembered for his loyalty to employee interests, not just shareholders. Still considered a visionary today, Packard said sixty years ago, “We have a responsibility to our employees to recognize their dignity as human beings." He believed that employees who help create the profits have a right to share in them. This was a radical notion for that time, and maybe even more so today. Individualistic Packard could see daily operations from a brilliant perspective, while holding a higher vision of service.
CEOs are hired to return profits to a company’s shareholders, and they are given freedom to make it happen. The old adage says that absolute power corrupts absolutely, but does it? Obviously, Mother Nature makes two very different kinds of CEOs, for example: Enron’s Jeff Skilling versus Truett Cathy of Chick-Fil-A. Winner of the Horatio Alger Award, Cathy generously supports youth in leadership while Skilling resides in prison for paper trading and creativity gone wrong. Are they a product of nature vs. nurture, or the lack thereof? As some neuroscientists believe, narcissistic CEOs can lack an “empathy neuron.” In contrast, emotionally healthy CEOs understand that they are a vivid two-way mirror to their team and customers. They may see weakness but they foster strength. A closer look at your own psychological meta-programming will reveal whether you see the world as a friend to serve or an enemy to plunder.
Regardless of personality traits and belief systems, CEOs have continuously evolved over the last century as a species. Ever-adaptable, CEOs and executives have navigated every technological innovation over 200 years from the steam engine to the cotton gin, from electricity to mass-produced cars, from early computers to sophisticated surveillance and geo-fencing products. Each technology wave has demanded a certain kind of leader with a new kind of vision to meet its unique conditions and challenges.
Today, we are all trying to envision what innovation could possibly come next and what kind of leader will be required to lead us successfully into and through an ocean of unknown complexities. As complexities increase and leaders are required to manage the “irresolvable,” according to recent interviews with Warren Buffet and other prominent business people, the inspired leader will be open and flexible enough to navigate well, using more heart and more hope to meet the unpredictable demands they face.
To make this message more palatable for the cynic, inspiration can actually be viewed as a “spiritual technology,” a vastly renewable resource that revises, renews, and rejuvenates. For an inspired change in leadership style, The CEO Evolution™ must take place to handle unanticipated innovations and revolutions that will thoroughly void our previous way of doing things. (Remember life before the iPad, cellphone, and microwave?) Inspiration is what makes us flexible enough to go the distance completely in the dark.